‘Fighting for voice of India, ready to pay any price,’ says Rahul Gandhi after Lok Sabha disqualification
1 min read 24 Mar 2023, 05:50 PM ISTRahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday. The development came less than a day after he was convicted in a 2019 criminal defamation case. The Surat court handed Gandhi a two year jail term over his remark on the ‘Modi surname’.
PremiumCongress leader Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on Friday, prompting a furious outcry amid the Opposition ranks. But as the party gears up to appeal the court verdict that paved the way for his ouster, the senior politician has insisted that he is ‘ready to pay any cost’ as he fights for India.
“I am fighting for the voice of India. I am ready to pay any cost," the Congress leader asserted.
The Congress has launched a scathing attack against the Narendra Modi-led government over the disqualification. Party leaders alleged that the move signifies "strangulation of democracy" with the ruling dispensation finding new techniques of "gagging" him. Meanwhile the BJP insisted that the disqualification was "lawful".
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The Lok Sabha notification also effectively bars Gandhi from contesting polls for eight years - unless stayed by a higher court. Numerous opposition leaders including members of the Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party have voiced strong support for the embattled leader following the disqualification.
“He has been removed from the House for speaking the truth, fighting for the Constitution and for people's rights," alleged Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
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The BJP suggested that a ‘conspiracy’ within the Congress might have played a role in its leaders not approaching a higher court for relief for Gandhi after his conviction. Party leaders cited the arrest of Pawan Khera (where the court had been approached within hours) to underscore their point.
Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Anurag Thakur also hit out at the Congress over its criticism of the court judgment convicting Gandhi and said the Nehru-Gandhi family suffers from "feudal mindset" and a "sense of entitlement" as its members believed in a separate set of laws and democratic system for themselves.
(With inputs from agencies)
